Trinidad and Tobago’s NGC CNG Company Limited in May hosted an inaugural two-day CNG Symposium with the theme Transitioning to a New Fuel Future. The event brought together several significant stakeholders in the island nation. The feature speaker was Landi Renzo’s Andrea Tagliavini, Director After Market Unit.

Landi Renzo’s CNG conversion kits have a significant presence in Trinidad and Tobago with both licensed converters using the product. Tagliavini presented information which showed there is projected worldwide growth of 4.7% in the CNG market to the year 2025, coupled with declining sales in diesel vehicles because of tighter emission standards. CNG is the cleanest of the fossil fuels with an estimated reduction of 30% on emissions and the most affordable Fuel available locally.

Day one was a synopsis focused on strides made in the CNG industry from 2014 – 2019 with the incorporation of the state owned NGC CNG Company. The company’s President Mr Curtis Mohammed presented a CNG status report which highlighted the following:

• Creating an institutional framework for the CNG industry including Government, Legislation, building capacity, training and development, private sector support and building a safety culture
• Increase in Natural Gas powered vehicles and concomitant increase in CNG litre sales
• Growth from zero OEM CNG models in 2014 to 18 in 2019
• Increase in stations as 20 supply points will be in place by the end of 2019
• The CNG value chain which shows some US$85 million (TT$579million) in economic activity has been created from US$22 million (TT$150million) spent on CNG infrastructure, incentives and operational expenses.
• The long term availability of natural gas as a vehicular fuel with a projection of approximately 63,000 NGV’s in 2023 using just 0.3% of national gas production.
• Environmental benefits of CNG which gives a 30% reduction in Carbon emissions.

“CNG is the preferred choice from a policy perspective because it optimizes the use of our country’s natural resources, it leverages both our infrastructure and our existing vehicle stock.  The uncontrolled use of liquid fuels, gasoline and diesel also puts financial strain on this country’s forex requirements”, President Mr Curtis Mohammed said.

Three panel discussions were also held on ‘how to make CNG work better in T&T’, ‘The best fuel choices for T&T’ and ‘Fuel subsidies.’

Day 2 featured an Open House exhibition of vehicles and conversion technologies where hundreds of members of the public interacted with exhibitors from OEM vehicle suppliers, licensed converters, financial institutions, regulatory bodies and educational and training and other CNG specialists. Established international brands such as Isuzu, Hyundai, Honda, Mack, Freightliner and emerging brands from Asia through their Trinidad and Tobago distributors had vehicles on display.

The CNG 2019 Symposium and Open House, Transitioning to a New Fuel Future was a resounding success and NGC CNG thanks all participants, sponsors and the general public for their support Trinidad and Tobago continues to build a CNG industry.

Related articles:

• Trinidad and Tobago Receive 35 Higer CNG Buses
• Fuel Cards to Incentivise Trinidad CNG Adoption